(WASHINGTON, DC) - In testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, FBI Director Robert Mueller and Deputy Treasury Secretary Kenneth Dam praised the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their on-going efforts in stopping terrorist financial networks.

In answering questions posed by the House committee, Mueller said that Saudi authorities are working with the U.S. Treasury on identifying sources of terrorist funding and that there have been “substantial strides” in the process. Mueller was supportive of the Kingdom’s efforts in enforcing the 2001 USA Patriot Act, which greatly strengthens the Administration’s ability to attack terrorist financial networks.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Kenneth Dam also testified that the Treasury and Riyadh are consulting carefully on the issue. Dam praised the Kingdom for its efforts, citing two specific examples in which the U.S. and Saudi Arabia jointly referred suspects to the UN Sanctions Committee.

On March 11, 2002, Saudi Arabia and the United States jointly referred two branches of a charity, and on September 6, 2002, the two nations combined to refer Wa’elm Hamza Julaidan, a known associate of Osama bin Ladin, to the UN Sanctions Committee.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an active partner in the fight against terrorism. In recent months, Saudi Arabia has questioned 2,800 individuals and has detained more than 200 suspects, including those involved with Al-Qaeda. The Kingdom works with the United States to share intelligence and information and has blocked more than $700 million in suspected terrorist assets.